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User profile for user: shosterman
shosterman Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Manually backing up files from recovery terminal

Hi all,


I am helping a friend with a mid-2012 Macbook Air that takes a long time to boot, like 5-10 minutes. Once booted the system is incredibly slow. Movements with the trackpad are delayed and there is a constant spinning wheel.


My plan was to wipe and reinstall, but before that I wanted to backup everything I could. I have booted into recovery and using cp copied her Documents, Desktop, and Downloads folders over to an external drive.


Next I want to do her Photos Library and iTunes, but I'm not 100% sure on this. From what I've read elsewhere it seems like I can just copy the Pictures folder over and that contains the database. She is using High Sierra 10.13.3.


If I copy that folder and then go to Catalina, would I be able to restore that version of the Photos Library? Or would I need to do High Sierra again and restore?


Would I be able to do the same with the iTunes library?


Is there anything else I am missing or would anyone recommend a different type of backup?


By the way, I ran First Aid and it said it was in good shape with error code 0 (I think I forgot to write it down).


Thanks!

MacBook Air

Posted on Jul 16, 2020 7:25 AM

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
56,234 points

Posted on Jul 16, 2020 9:21 PM

You can create a .dmg image of the user folder which is a bit safer since it would also include the user's home Library folder (~/Library) in case there are any preferences or other data stored there. This method also may give you more options later on than copying just individual folders.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/50040



I forget if I was able to use Setup Assistant to migrate the user folder to a clean install if the User Folder is contained in a .dmg. It it would work it would require manually opening/mounting the .dmg file before getting to the migration portion. I don't know if this can be done with Setup Assistant or if you would need to use Migration Assistant instead. Maybe macOS won't allow migration from just a mounted user folder. I haven't attempted this in years so I don't recall if it is possible.


If you do create a .dmg image of the user folder, then make sure to detach it and try mounting it again just to make sure the data is accessible. It would be good to also test opening the .dmg using another Mac as well to be doubly safe.


Unfortunately I cannot answer your specific questions regarding the various media libraries.


Try running DriveDx to check the health of the SSD (or you can use Smartmontools since you are familiar with the command line). Post the complete health report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. The DriveDx demo will allow you to run the SSD's internal short selftest (It is possible to run the long/extended selftest with the demo using the command line). The Smartmontools utilities (smartctl) is at the core of DriveDx. If using Smartmontools, then provide the report using

sudo  <path-to>/smartctl  -a  /dev/diskN


where you replace "diskN" with the actual drive identifier for the internal SSD.


Not all Apple SSDs support the SMART health monitoring feature.


If the SSD has an issue, then it may be possible to "fix" the SSD by resetting it to factory defaults by using the SSD's hardware secure erase feature (again not all Apple SSD's have this hardware feature). I can provide instructions since it does require the use of a Linux utility to access this hardware feature of an SSD.

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
56,234 points

Jul 16, 2020 9:21 PM in response to shosterman

You can create a .dmg image of the user folder which is a bit safer since it would also include the user's home Library folder (~/Library) in case there are any preferences or other data stored there. This method also may give you more options later on than copying just individual folders.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/50040



I forget if I was able to use Setup Assistant to migrate the user folder to a clean install if the User Folder is contained in a .dmg. It it would work it would require manually opening/mounting the .dmg file before getting to the migration portion. I don't know if this can be done with Setup Assistant or if you would need to use Migration Assistant instead. Maybe macOS won't allow migration from just a mounted user folder. I haven't attempted this in years so I don't recall if it is possible.


If you do create a .dmg image of the user folder, then make sure to detach it and try mounting it again just to make sure the data is accessible. It would be good to also test opening the .dmg using another Mac as well to be doubly safe.


Unfortunately I cannot answer your specific questions regarding the various media libraries.


Try running DriveDx to check the health of the SSD (or you can use Smartmontools since you are familiar with the command line). Post the complete health report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. The DriveDx demo will allow you to run the SSD's internal short selftest (It is possible to run the long/extended selftest with the demo using the command line). The Smartmontools utilities (smartctl) is at the core of DriveDx. If using Smartmontools, then provide the report using

sudo  <path-to>/smartctl  -a  /dev/diskN


where you replace "diskN" with the actual drive identifier for the internal SSD.


Not all Apple SSDs support the SMART health monitoring feature.


If the SSD has an issue, then it may be possible to "fix" the SSD by resetting it to factory defaults by using the SSD's hardware secure erase feature (again not all Apple SSD's have this hardware feature). I can provide instructions since it does require the use of a Linux utility to access this hardware feature of an SSD.

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User profile for user: shosterman
shosterman Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Jul 23, 2020 12:24 PM in response to shosterman

Hi HWTech,


I started working on her machine again. I partitioned a larger SSD into 2 for a clone and a dmg copy as you suggested. However, I can't seem to get very far because the machine will generally shut off after an amount of time.


After doing some more troubleshooting, I wonder if there is an issue with the board. The machine requires me pushing the power button for several seconds before it turns on and I wonder if the very slow desktop experience is related to it running at a lower clock speed.


I found this thread on iFixit that is very similar to what I am having with this Air.

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/392178/MacBook+only+powers+on+if+power+button+held+for+5+seconds


So I'm kind of stuck now because I don't really have the skills to open it up. I'm thinking I may tell her to get a new machine or find a repair shop that specializes in this.

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Manually backing up files from recovery terminal

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